School

Society

Rice Architecture Society is the voice of the Rice Architecture student body. With representatives from every studio, this group helps to shape the culture of the school while also providing a liaison between the students and the school’s faculty and administration.
Society’s main social and educational events include:
  • Weekly open studios: late-night social gatherings for the exchange of snacks and ideas
  • Mini-charrettes: short-term design competitions
  • Architectronica (fall) and ArchiArts (spring): university-wide parties
  • Society Pages: bi-monthly student publication in response to life in Anderson Hall
  • Materials Reuse: free digital and physical community-sourced resources
Society also helps organize and run the community Mini-Kitchen, wellbeing events, Ask the Dean panels, DEI lectures, student directory, and study breaks. Its hardworking, focused members collaborate closely with faculty, staff, Society-adjacent student organizations at Anderson (ARC, AGSA, NOMAS), and the Student Association at Rice University to build a culture of care and participation at Rice Architecture.
 
President: Katherine Hui
Undergraduate Vice President: Shereen Liu
Secretary/Treasurer: Mark Litchenberger
Cruise Directors: Joshua Chiang, Victor Elizondo, and Rafe Hessekiel  
Recess Coordinator: Grace Andrews
Page Editor: Andrea Sanchez
Curators: Tammy Feng, Madeline Ju, and Kexuan Shang
Well-being Directors: Charlotte Cohen and Theo Vadot
 
Society
ArchiArts Exhibition

The Architecture Graduate Student Association

The Architecture Graduate Student Association (AGSA) represents the graduate student body at Rice Architecture. We complement Society by devoting our full attention to the needs of graduate students.

Our main activities are themed lecture series and discussions that bring us together with our faculty, professors of other Rice departments and, of course, events to connect with each other. We want to incentivize students to speak about their concerns and needs.

Our Mission Statement

  1. To represent the graduate students of Rice Architecture and advocate for their interests and wellbeing on both the schoolwide and University level.  
  2. To provide a collective voice and support network for Architecture graduate students, and to facilitate open and thoughtful communication between RSA’s graduate students and the administration of RSA, including but not limited to faculty, staff, and the Dean of Architecture.
  3. To foster a culture of inclusivity within Rice Architecture, and to work in tandem with Society to ensure that all students, regardless of their degree level, have a voice within the school.
  4. To communicate with the university through collaboration with the university-wide GSA and to open avenues for engagement and collaboration with departments outside of the school of architecture. 
  5. To function as a resource for architecture graduate students regarding professional and personal opportunities. 
  6. To build and maintain relationships among students, professionals, alumni, and community members.

​

President: Candela Cicinelli

Vice President: Andrew Jiao

Treasurer: Michael Xu

Communications Chair: Robin V Hueppe

People watching a presentation
Faculty Lecture and Discussion with Sarah Nichols on her exhibition on concrete at S AM Swiss Architecture Museum.

Mentorship

Rice Architecture Mentorship (RAMP) is a student-led organization under Rice Architecture Society with a mission to provide students with productive opportunities to engage the profession of architecture through mentorship. RAMP connects students with a global network of Rice Architecture alumni and other professionals through networking events, office and site visits, and externships to foster mutually beneficial relationships. RAMP also organizes a year-long Peer Mentorship program, which is aimed to introduce first-year undergraduate and graduate students to Rice Architecture.

The 2022 Leadership Committee is Amber Wang and Stuti Mehta (Co-Coordinators), Zee Zeng (Lecture & Field Trips) and Nikola Kolarov (External Programs). Mentorship coordinates its programming with Jacki Schaefer, Rice Architecture's Career and Alumni Specialist. If you are interested in joining Mentorship, either as a mentor or as a current Rice Architecture student, please email the Mentorship Committee.

MentorshipWorkshop
Mentorship Workshop

Mentorship

Rice Architecture alumni and local practitioners mentor current Rice Architecture students. These pairings last for one academic year, permitting students to gain 1:1 exposure to a wide variety of practices.

Guest lectures/panel discussions

Mentorship invites alumni and guest speakers to give a lunchtime talk about their own trajectory, usually highlighting a specific project or experience. Speakers provide their own way and orchestrate their own lodging for these lectures. 

Workshops

Each semester students work with faculty members to plan and offer technology and professionalism workshops relevant across studios.

Career Fair

Mentorship hosts various architecture firms for an architecture-exclusive Career Fair in the spring. Career Fair is an opportunity for firms to meet and interview students, and for students to learn about professional opportunities from around the country.

Office Visits

Mentorship students arrange frequent small group tours of offices and project sites around Houston. 

Externship program

Rice University offers winter and spring break externships. Alumni, parents, and friends of the university host a current student for a one- to seven-day unpaid opportunity to shadow a professional. Mentorship assists in matching students with these opportunities.  

Recess

Recess is designed to share the talent and energy of the students at Rice Architecture with the community. Rice Architecture volunteers at the graduate and undergraduate level work with elementary through high-school aged students through our outreach efforts in the community and on campus. In addition to establishing a multi-year partnership with the STEM Chapter at the South Union CDC, Recess has partnered closely with the Rice Design Alliance and with a variety of education-based organizations in Houston to teach students about the built environment. Our workshops are engaging and introduce creative thought processes through tours, presentations, and collaborative design projects. We have seen these workshops have an informative, positive, and lasting impression on the students we are able to reach.

 

National Organization of Minority Architecture Students Rice

NOMAS Rice is a student chapter of the larger professional organization that is the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), consisting of a vast network of student and professional chapters from all over the country.

NOMAS Rice is an inclusive collective of students of all racial, ethnic, national, religious, and gender identities. Our mission is to collaborate, learn, and share ideas to elicit success in individual and group endeavors. As a member, students get access to a wider network of professionals and students through NOMA who have an invested interest in students’ success.

NOMAS Rice aims to empower minority architecture students to foster justice and equity in communities of color through outreach, community advocacy, professional development, and design excellence. For more information or to get involved, please contact any of the individuals listed below.

Program Coordinator: Isabelle Ndoumy-Kouakou

Service Coordinator: Dante Gil Rivas

Finance Coordinator: Valerie Elizondo

Professional Events Coordinator: Kexuan Shang

Social Events Coordinators: Prea Davis and Sarai Huamán Santillán

Publicity Coordinators: Razella Freeman and Deandra Smith

Club Advisor: Kristina Kennedy

Groups of students playing board games
NOMAS Game Night 2021

PLAT Journal

Founded in 2009, PLAT journal is an independent architecture journal published by the students of Rice Architecture. Through a combination of open submissions and commissioned pieces, the editors seek out contributions from various disciplines to generate a vibrant conversation.

PLAT offers a place to share work of all varieties and mixes writing from established professionals and emerging voices. Each new editorial team develops a unique and timely theme to explore in their issue. While the .0 issues always come in a standard print format, the .5 responses to the previous .0 publication take various forms. PLAT prizes agility and remains committed to advancing a provocative set of ideas that are always in flux.

Over the summer months, PLAT has published the online issue 8.5 tl;dr as a responsive issue to the issue 8.0 Simplicity, featuring a range of conversations and articles. To kick off the Fall semester, PLAT, in partnership with the podcast series Tête-à-Tête, will be releasing a series of conversations with architects and educators, to be available on platjournal.com and major podcast platforms. In 2019, PLAT was awarded by Graham Foundation and received an Honorable Mention in the 2019 Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals, given by the AIA New York's Center for Architecture.

PLAT 9.0 Commit explores what an attitude of commitment might look like for architecture and architectural discourse. To explore the theme further, PLAT will be hosting a digital roundtable discussion with some of the issue's contributors in October 2020.

Follow the work online at platjournal.com and @platjournal. 

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